This is a documentary study of little-known religious and funerary buildings throughout Southern India. It presents a survey of historical buildings in the Muslim communities and major towns of the region, which have previously been virtually unknown outside their own localities. Even locally, people tended to be familiar with only a few important local nearby shrines, and there was little awareness of a collective heritage. This is a record of the historic heritage of the area through an exploration of its architecture and built environment.

This book reinterprets the Muslim architecture and urban planning of South India, looking beyond the Deccan to the regions of Tamil Nadu and Kerala - the historic coasts of Coromandel and Malabar. For the first time a detailed survey of the Muslim monuments of the historic ports and towns demonstrates a rich and diverse architectural tradition entirely independent from the better known architecture of North India and the Deccan sultanates. The book, extensively illustrated with photographs and architectural drawings, widens the horizons of our understanding of Muslim India and will no doubt...